Strivers

I wasn’t only playing with compost on Thursday. I’m back working nights three days a week, so I used my “day off” to get a lot of needed yardwork done. My first “chore” was to clean out the Butterfly/Hummingbird bed and re-plant it.

My butterfly bush, located next to the Accidental Herb Garden, dropped a few seeds in it resulting in two seedlings. At first I panicked. What was I going to do with more butterfly bushes? Duh! I have a Butterfly/Hummingbird bed, the perfect place for a butterfly bush. So those seedlings got transplanted to their new home. Next I tried to divide the perennial foxglove. That was tough. I may not have been successful. I was more successful in moving one of the Blackberry lilies. The bed is more balanced now without all of the plants on one side.

Finally I planted bulbs:

12 Darwin tulips
5 Copper Queen daffodils

I’m still trimming back perennials. And it was time to get rid of the rosebushes that didn’t make it. The Zephirine Drouhin lost its battle with the squirrels. Or so I thought. When I went to remove it, I noticed some new growth:


It’s probably growing from the rootstock and most likely won’t make it through the winter. And if it does, the squirrels will make short work of it next spring, but I left it in place anyways. Anything trying that hard deserves a chance.

Last winter, I winter sowed wild purple foxglove which also became squirrel victims. Three plants managed to survive. Thanks to some over-enthusiastic weeding, I accidentally destroyed one of those plants. Of the two that are left, the one in the Purple Garden got over-shadowed by some Japanese iris and didn’t grow very much.


Hmmm . . . something’s been chewing on that! This is what it is supposed to look like:


I have high hopes for this one growing in the Wildflower Garden. I will be winter sowing more of these over the winter.

Finally, it was time to start emptying my overflowing composter. Taking my cue from “Teaming with Microbes”, I top-dressed the beds instead of scratching it in as I used to. I know this us probably not the right time of year to be doing this, but as you saw from the photos, I desperately need to make some room in my composter. I will be adding steadily to it over the winter when I do more cooking than in the summer months. So steadily that I actually wear a path in the backyard to the composter. Even more reason to get rid of my lawn.